Christian cinema abounds at Easter time

Saturday

Apr 12, 2014 at 9:30 AM

By Ashley Mottnews@bastropenterprise.com

In the weeks leading up to Christian holidays, such as Easter and Christmas, more faith-based films generally find their way into mainstream cinemas. This spring, area movie-goers have had access to several Christian films.

“God’s Not Dead,” a movie about a young college student who defends his faith in God in the classroom, opened on March 21 in the Ark-La-Miss and was a big hit in local theaters.

Church groups from across Northeast Louisiana attended the showing at area theaters, including the Fiske in West Carroll, where the film broke records for attendance.

“It has always been the goal of Holland Entertainment to provide quality entertainment to the underserved movie-going public in the Ark-La-Miss,” said Adam Holland, Pres. of Holland Entertainment, which operates the Fiske Theatre for the Chamber of Commerce, “and, in doing so, provide faith-based entertainment options as often as they are available.”

During its three weeks of showings at the Fiske, 2,705 people attended and many are looking forward to future religious films playing locally.

“[I] would like to see a lot more like God's Not Dead,” said Linda Reynolds of Bastrop in response to a Facebook inquiry from the “Enterprise” about local religious movie viewing options.

“Noah,” while a dramatization of one of the Bible’s most well-known stories, has faced more controversy with a Christian audience that finds it more true to Hollywood storytelling than the biblical account.

“The only thing religious about the movie “Noah” is the name,” said Kathy Parrott, a Bastrop resident.

Despite the debate, the film topped the box office in its first week of release. “Son of God,” which dramatizes the life of Christ, also performed well nationwide and earned $10 million in its opening week.

“I feel very privileged to live in the South where we are more open to faith-based movies,” said Jennifer Campbell of Bastrop, “...I do, however, caution others that many times a package may be presented to us as being faith-based but may actually be very loosely based on the Bible and may have no faith basis at all. It is also important to know morally based and faith-based are two altogether different things.”